What was written down in Iga Swiatek’s notebook during her French Open round of 16 victory? It’s the question that had a number of tennis commentators scratching their heads.
Swiatek dropped a set for the first time in more than a month but stayed on course for the French Open title by beating teenager Zheng Qinwen.
There was some doubt that the seemingly unstoppable World No.1 was going to extend her winning streak to 32 matches when Zheng snatched the first set despite trailing 5-2.
The 19-year-old from China was also 5-2 down in the tie-break, but reeled off five consecutive points to claim the opening stanza.
From there, however, it was all Swiatek as the Pole cemented her status as the player to beat at Roland Garros by romping through the next two sets to claim victory.
Analysing the match for Eurosport, former men’s stars Mats Wilander and Tim Henman noticed that when Swiatek emerged from the break between first and second sets, she was carrying a notebook with her onto court.
The tennis experts also noticed that the Pole re-emerged for the second set as a completely different player, prompting questions about what the notebook contained.
